The Czech Republic on Saturday blamed a series of mysterious explosions in 2014 on Czech ammunition depots on an elite Russian military intelligence unit – a group Britain has linked to a 2018 attack with a nerve agent on a former Russian spy from Salisbury, England.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis told a news conference in Prague that his government would respond by expelling 18 Russian diplomats, whom he identified as spies. He said there was “clear evidence” gathered by Czech intelligence and security services, showing “reasonable suspicions” that the Russian group, known as Unit 29155, was involved in explosions in late 2014 that killed two Czechs. .
The announcement highlighted the scale of Russia’s efforts to expand its influence and pursue aggressive actions around the world, including military-style operations, assassinations and cyber attacks.
Russia’s elite unit has operated for at least a decade, focusing on subversion, sabotage and assassination beyond Russia’s borders. He first appeared after the March 2018 attack in Salisbury, England, on a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, using the nervous agent Novichok. They both became seriously ill, but later recovered.
Britain blamed the Salisbury attack on Russian military intelligence services, known as the GRU, and identified two of its agents, who traveled under false names as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, as the first suspects.
While the prime minister was speaking in Prague, the Czech National Police’s organized anti-crime unit issued its own statement, saying that two Russian men using the same name were wanted in connection with an unspecified “serious crime” and were known to have been in the Czech Republic – including the Zlin region, where ammunition depots exploded – from 11 October to 16 October 2014, the date of the first explosion.
Czech police also released photos of the two men, who looked like the men shown in the photos released in 2018 by the UK. Police said the men used at least two different identities and asked anyone who saw them or knew anything about their movements in the Czech Republic to call a phone line.
Mr Babis, the prime minister, did not directly accuse the two Russians of involvement in the weapons depot explosions, but said there was “unequivocal evidence” that agents working for Russia’s military intelligence services were involved.
“The Czech Republic is a sovereign state and must react accordingly to those unprecedented revelations,” Mr Babis added.
The Czech Republic, a member of NATO, has expelled Russian diplomats in the past, but has never ordered as many as on Saturday. The expulsions came just days after Washington expelled 10 Russian diplomats for interfering in last year’s US presidential election and hacking computer systems used by government agencies.
Poland, another NATO member, has also expelled Russian diplomats in recent days, ordering three departures on Thursday in what Warsaw said was a gesture of “solidarity” with the United States.
However, the Czech action was more severe and unusually comprehensive.
“I am sorry that Czech-Russian relations will suffer, however, the Czech Republic must react,” Acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said in Prague.
What caused the explosions of the ammunition depot, which started in the village of Vlachovice and was resumed at a nearby depot in December 2014, has never been fully explained.
These coincided with Ukraine’s efforts to increase its arms supply from abroad as it struggles to reclaim eastern territory seized by Russian-backed rebels in the summer of 2014.
Czech media reports on Saturday also linked explosions to what they said could be a Russian attempt to stop the delivery of Czech-made weapons to forces fighting in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad. close to Moscow.